Lent 1 (Genesis 9:8-17, Mark 1:9-15)
February 26, 2012
Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem PA
The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Welcome to the waters. Welcome to the waters of Lent. Not the Lenten greeting you expected? You thought I was going to talk about entering the desert, right? Well, stay with me. Before Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness, before the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the desert, long before, there was another 40 and another wilderness. You remember when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. You remember the story of Noah and the Ark.
God calls Noah. Noah builds the ark and gathers all the creatures, two of each, one female and one male. Why two? Because the ark carries not only life, but also the expectation of new life. The rain comes and cleanses the earth. It also overwhelms the earth and the Ark is surrounded by a watery wilderness. Like any desert, this water is dangerous, desolate and unrelenting. But in that watery wilderness the ark keeps life safe and when all is done, the animals and people all emerge. God set the bow, the rainbow, in the sky and makes a covenant with all creatures. This new life will thrive.
The ark came safely through the water. Babies in the womb are surrounded and protected by water. In baptism we come safely through the water. New life comes through the water. In the Jordan River, Jesus is baptized and comes safely out of the water…and the Spirit immediately drives him out into the wilderness.
We have just entered the wilderness of Lent and this year I invite you to think of it as a watery journey. In this watery wilderness the church is a ship. We are all in Noah’s ark for the next 40 days. We are headed for new life and we travel with the rainbow promise. But the wilderness, even watery wilderness, can be tricky to cross. To help us along I’ve brought some guidelines. These come from Peter Mazar, who was a noted liturgist, writer, and editor of Christian Education materials.
Shipboard Rules for the Next Forty Days
1. No matter how hungry you get, don’t eat each other. Lent is a time for fasting.
For turtles, fasting might be easy, but for lions, it will be difficult. Help each other fast. If you get grouchy, make an effort to be cheerful. Keep meals plain and simple. Try to eat together. Enjoy your meals and help others enjoy them.
Put only good things into your body: what you eat, watch, and listen to. Give your attention to what’s really interesting: people, the things they do and make, nature. Be content with less. Stay busy, but keep the noise down.
2. Share what you have. Lent is a time of charity.
Some have more than others, but everyone has something to share. Bees can give honey. Cows can give milk. Canaries can sing for us and crickets can chirp.
On this ark there’s nothing to waste. Don’t throw anything overboard. Recycle. Fix what’s broken. Clean up after yourself. Be ready to lend a hand, and don’t wait to be asked.
3. Keep in touch with God. Lent is a time of prayer.
Even if the ark manages to stay afloat, we will need God’s help to reach safe harbor. Sing praises everyday. Pray for yourself, but also remind God about each other. Make this a good habit.
(Forty Days and Forty Nights: A Lenten Ark Moving Toward Easter, text by Peter Mazar, art by Judy Jarret. Liturgy Training Publications 1994.)
We are all in this together. It is not always comfortable, here in our ark, but it’s what we have. We don’t always get along, but you don’t always get to choose your shipmates…and we each have gifts to share.
Welcome to the waters of Lent. Fast. Give. Pray. New life is on the way.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Epiphany 4
January 29, 2012
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
Good morning!
Today if ever there was a time for me to remind and invite you into living into the story, that is the gospel. In the gospels what we receive is a masterful telling of a story with an enfolding theme. A story designed to lead up and enrich; to captivate and invite us to a thrilling conclusion, much like a good novel. I invite you this day to join me as we look at this story the gospel, the Gospel of Mark.
Today, however we will start with Aristotle. I know that Aristotle is not in the Gospel of Mark. Just for the record. Today we start with Aristotle. There is not one among us who would argue with Aristotle’s greatness or with the authority and respect of Aristotle’s teaching. Aristotle was the authority of his day and his imagination and intellect and his worldview pervaded all those who would know and live and learn from him for thousands of years. I remind you that it was Aristotle who taught many that when you climb into a height if you took a ten-pound object and a two-pound object and dropped them from a similar height that, of course, the ten-pound object would arrive on the earth sooner. That was what Aristotle taught. Aristotle was the authority of his time and day and that teaching became woven into the world view for generations and generations. And, I remind you that a couple of thousands of years later—not quite a couple of thousands but a thousand or so years later, that this interesting guy named Galileo decided to challenge the conventional wisdom. And it was Galileo who ascended on top of a height, and I don’t know if it was ten pounds or two pounds but an object heavier and a lighter object and dropped them to see, of course, that gravity would pull them to the earth at the same pace. You see Aristotle was the authority of his day and for generations the truth of what he taught was woven into people’s belief system. Galileo, so many years later, would challenge that. And even those who would witness the truth of Galileo’s example would reject it. They didn’t believe him. As a matter of fact they were threatened by him. You see in Galileo’s experiment he was unweaving and unpacking the very essence of what people believed was true about the world in which they lived. That, as we know by our own experience can just be downright scary. We living in the 21st century can relate, can’t we? It seems many of the “truths” we once held of the world seem a bit upside down.
I offer this experience as a way to enter into the gospel lesson today, as a way to understand Jesus entering into the synagogue to begin teaching. It is Jesus who would enter into the synagogue and he would begin to teach as the scripture says, with authority. That is to say that what Jesus began to teach was very different than the established worldview of that community there. It was enough to grab people’s attention. Jesus is teaching differently. Not as the scribes teach. That’s not to say that the scribes didn’t teach with authority. It says that the way Jesus was teaching in authority was different than that of the scribes. The scribes, I remind you, were the certificate holders. They were the ones who had some theological training. They were the ones who had the certificate letters behind their names—M.Div. perhaps. I’ll only pick on myself at this service. But Jesus is teaching differently than those who are credentialed to do the teaching. He’s doing so in a room full of interesting people. In fact, Jesus teaching with authority gained some interesting attention. First, by the regular attenders who know enough that the status quo is not what is happening before their very eyes. As a matter of fact, they seem not to be really quite sure what’s happening. They just know that it’s different. As then also, Jesus is accompanied by the most unlikely of audiences. It seems that there are demons present—possessing one by-stander. And it seems that in our story today in the Gospel of Mark, that invitation to draw us in there in the very beginning verses of the first chapter. It seems to be the demons that have the clearest picture of what’s going on here or to be clear for Mark in his wonderful story and his wonderful story telling of enticing us and entrapping us, the demons are not asking what the others are asking. The others are asking what is going on here. The demons are asking who is going on here. And this, I submit to you, is where the meat in our story lies.
You see Jesus’s authority does not come through his credentials as it would the scribes in the synagogue. Jesus’s authority comes from who he is and the truth of what it means to know him, and to get to know him. It is here that the reader of Mark finds a portal to enter into this poignant story. We consider this wonderful introduction of Mark to follow his story as a way of knowing Jesus. Jesus’s teaching is with authority. A definition of authority is recognizing a power in which we seek to vest our trust. Shall I say that again? A definition of authority is seeking a power in which to vest our trust. Jesus is teaching with authority, his credentials are who he is.
Let’s follow the story and let this truth wash over us. Mark begins his wonderful story if you recall with John the Baptist. John the Baptist, this is how Mark’s story begins—with John the Baptist telling people to repent, that is, turn yourselves away from whatever is pulling you away from the truth—from God’s truth. “Repent”, John says, that is turn your heart toward that Truth. If there is anything scattered in the path that makes it crooked, clear it out so that you have a straight line. Make the path straight so you can get to it as quickly as possible. Then Jesus appears in the story. And Jesus does what? That’s right he gets baptized! Very good! Baptized by John. Jesus enters that water and appears back out from underneath the depth of that water and a voice comes from heaven and the voice says “This is my son, my beloved with whom I am well pleased.” We are told in Mark’s Gospel who this Jesus is. God’s son . . . with whom God is well pleased. Jesus exits that water and Jesus immediately does what? That’s right, Jesus goes into the desert and what does Jesus do in the desert? He is tempted in the desert. And what he is tempted about? That’s right he is tempted to doubt or betray the very essence of who he is. That’s what Jesus is tempted about. Who are you Jesus? Satan wants to know. Satan knows who he is. This is the great flirtation of Mark, because the demons and Satan get it from the beginning. Who is it? Who are you Jesus? Are you the son of God who’s come into the world to reveal the truth about God’s heart and God’s kingdom that must turn this world upside down?
Satan says to Jesus, how bout a case of amnesia Jesus. Forget who you are, how about being just part of the world—like the rest of them. Here Jesus, look at it all. You can have that! You can have all the possessions, kingdoms, treasurers of the world, You just can’t be who you are. So take it Jesus. Take all the world has to offer you.
That’s what’s going on in that desert. But as Mrs. Iannelli has rightly pointed out Jesus emerges from that experience and we are revealed by Mark’s Gospel in to who he is—the son of God, in flesh in the kingdom. And what does Jesus do next? That’s right! He begins to recruit some help—in the unlikeliest of people. A couple of common folks, some fishermen. He begins to call them and say to them, you don’t know me yet, but follow me and I’ll show you a little bit more about your trade than you ever dreamed or imagined. So, come along! Jesus collects himself some help. And then Jesus begins to preach, and to teach, and to heal, and to cast out demons. And the rest of Mark’s story, this wonderfully written story, a story designed to entice and to entrap and to convict us, and I mean convict in the best sense of that word.
The rest of that story will be about who gets it, who doesn’t and who might. Who gets it in that first chapter of Mark?
This is fantastic! Who wouldn’t stick around for the rest of the story? Who gets it? God the Father in heaven gets it. John the Baptist gets it. The demons get it. And, Satan gets it. Who doesn’t get it? The authorities of the day don’t get it. The folks with the certificates don’t get it. And who might get it? Who might get it? The disciples might get it. Ray Arcario might get it. Mrs. Iannelli, if she keeps teaching that class, she might get it. We might get it.
Did you know that the Gospel of Mark has two endings? Did you know that? The first ending of Mark ends with Jesus’s resurrection. It ends with the disciples witnessing an empty tomb. The disciples, who I remind you, followed him around for three years. Who ate and drank and bathed with him. Who witnessed him heal the sick, cure the lame, cast out demons and proclaim a new day for the poor and the broken hearted. It is his disciples, who at the tomb are seized as Mark tells us with trembling and bewilderment, saying nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Well who wouldn’t be. For they were afraid. That’s the first ending of the Gospel of Mark. The beautiful story as he tells it, of course, leaves us, the reader, with that question: Who might get it? And then the story hit the editor’s table. And the editor decided maybe we should help them a little more. The second ending has Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene because clearly they understood if they really wanted to get the point across they needed some help from the women folk—because the disciples were seized with fear. And then Jesus also appears to two disciples on the road. And between Mary Magdalene and the disciples, they go back and tell the others and just like Galileo dropping the truth in his experiment, guess what, they didn’t believe them. It just couldn’t be! It isn’t so! We’re so afraid. We’re seized. We’re inactive. We’re unable to respond. So the editor continues.
So Jesus finally goes and appears to the eleven, all of them together. And in lines he whips them into shape. (snapping fingers) okay . . . This is like this. Our relationship is like this. You’ve been trying to figure this out. You might get it. That might getting part it is good news for us, believe me. But Jesus whips them into shape. He reminds them who he is and the Kingdom that is part of every atom in his body. He tells them it’s on them now. It’s on you now. So get up! Get out! Proclaim the gospel that you know because of me. Baptize in my name. And proclaim that gospel, by the way, to every creature. Mark’s words, Every creature!
Who gets it? Who doesn’t? Who might? Two weeks ago I asked the question of you as we began a new year, I asked the simple question. Is God finished with you yet? Or, does God have something yet more for you to know about him and to respond to him in your life, in this new year? And today I leave you with this question. In whom and in what do you vest your trust? Think about it. Amen.
January 29, 2012
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
Good morning!
Today if ever there was a time for me to remind and invite you into living into the story, that is the gospel. In the gospels what we receive is a masterful telling of a story with an enfolding theme. A story designed to lead up and enrich; to captivate and invite us to a thrilling conclusion, much like a good novel. I invite you this day to join me as we look at this story the gospel, the Gospel of Mark.
Today, however we will start with Aristotle. I know that Aristotle is not in the Gospel of Mark. Just for the record. Today we start with Aristotle. There is not one among us who would argue with Aristotle’s greatness or with the authority and respect of Aristotle’s teaching. Aristotle was the authority of his day and his imagination and intellect and his worldview pervaded all those who would know and live and learn from him for thousands of years. I remind you that it was Aristotle who taught many that when you climb into a height if you took a ten-pound object and a two-pound object and dropped them from a similar height that, of course, the ten-pound object would arrive on the earth sooner. That was what Aristotle taught. Aristotle was the authority of his time and day and that teaching became woven into the world view for generations and generations. And, I remind you that a couple of thousands of years later—not quite a couple of thousands but a thousand or so years later, that this interesting guy named Galileo decided to challenge the conventional wisdom. And it was Galileo who ascended on top of a height, and I don’t know if it was ten pounds or two pounds but an object heavier and a lighter object and dropped them to see, of course, that gravity would pull them to the earth at the same pace. You see Aristotle was the authority of his day and for generations the truth of what he taught was woven into people’s belief system. Galileo, so many years later, would challenge that. And even those who would witness the truth of Galileo’s example would reject it. They didn’t believe him. As a matter of fact they were threatened by him. You see in Galileo’s experiment he was unweaving and unpacking the very essence of what people believed was true about the world in which they lived. That, as we know by our own experience can just be downright scary. We living in the 21st century can relate, can’t we? It seems many of the “truths” we once held of the world seem a bit upside down.
I offer this experience as a way to enter into the gospel lesson today, as a way to understand Jesus entering into the synagogue to begin teaching. It is Jesus who would enter into the synagogue and he would begin to teach as the scripture says, with authority. That is to say that what Jesus began to teach was very different than the established worldview of that community there. It was enough to grab people’s attention. Jesus is teaching differently. Not as the scribes teach. That’s not to say that the scribes didn’t teach with authority. It says that the way Jesus was teaching in authority was different than that of the scribes. The scribes, I remind you, were the certificate holders. They were the ones who had some theological training. They were the ones who had the certificate letters behind their names—M.Div. perhaps. I’ll only pick on myself at this service. But Jesus is teaching differently than those who are credentialed to do the teaching. He’s doing so in a room full of interesting people. In fact, Jesus teaching with authority gained some interesting attention. First, by the regular attenders who know enough that the status quo is not what is happening before their very eyes. As a matter of fact, they seem not to be really quite sure what’s happening. They just know that it’s different. As then also, Jesus is accompanied by the most unlikely of audiences. It seems that there are demons present—possessing one by-stander. And it seems that in our story today in the Gospel of Mark, that invitation to draw us in there in the very beginning verses of the first chapter. It seems to be the demons that have the clearest picture of what’s going on here or to be clear for Mark in his wonderful story and his wonderful story telling of enticing us and entrapping us, the demons are not asking what the others are asking. The others are asking what is going on here. The demons are asking who is going on here. And this, I submit to you, is where the meat in our story lies.
You see Jesus’s authority does not come through his credentials as it would the scribes in the synagogue. Jesus’s authority comes from who he is and the truth of what it means to know him, and to get to know him. It is here that the reader of Mark finds a portal to enter into this poignant story. We consider this wonderful introduction of Mark to follow his story as a way of knowing Jesus. Jesus’s teaching is with authority. A definition of authority is recognizing a power in which we seek to vest our trust. Shall I say that again? A definition of authority is seeking a power in which to vest our trust. Jesus is teaching with authority, his credentials are who he is.
Let’s follow the story and let this truth wash over us. Mark begins his wonderful story if you recall with John the Baptist. John the Baptist, this is how Mark’s story begins—with John the Baptist telling people to repent, that is, turn yourselves away from whatever is pulling you away from the truth—from God’s truth. “Repent”, John says, that is turn your heart toward that Truth. If there is anything scattered in the path that makes it crooked, clear it out so that you have a straight line. Make the path straight so you can get to it as quickly as possible. Then Jesus appears in the story. And Jesus does what? That’s right he gets baptized! Very good! Baptized by John. Jesus enters that water and appears back out from underneath the depth of that water and a voice comes from heaven and the voice says “This is my son, my beloved with whom I am well pleased.” We are told in Mark’s Gospel who this Jesus is. God’s son . . . with whom God is well pleased. Jesus exits that water and Jesus immediately does what? That’s right, Jesus goes into the desert and what does Jesus do in the desert? He is tempted in the desert. And what he is tempted about? That’s right he is tempted to doubt or betray the very essence of who he is. That’s what Jesus is tempted about. Who are you Jesus? Satan wants to know. Satan knows who he is. This is the great flirtation of Mark, because the demons and Satan get it from the beginning. Who is it? Who are you Jesus? Are you the son of God who’s come into the world to reveal the truth about God’s heart and God’s kingdom that must turn this world upside down?
Satan says to Jesus, how bout a case of amnesia Jesus. Forget who you are, how about being just part of the world—like the rest of them. Here Jesus, look at it all. You can have that! You can have all the possessions, kingdoms, treasurers of the world, You just can’t be who you are. So take it Jesus. Take all the world has to offer you.
That’s what’s going on in that desert. But as Mrs. Iannelli has rightly pointed out Jesus emerges from that experience and we are revealed by Mark’s Gospel in to who he is—the son of God, in flesh in the kingdom. And what does Jesus do next? That’s right! He begins to recruit some help—in the unlikeliest of people. A couple of common folks, some fishermen. He begins to call them and say to them, you don’t know me yet, but follow me and I’ll show you a little bit more about your trade than you ever dreamed or imagined. So, come along! Jesus collects himself some help. And then Jesus begins to preach, and to teach, and to heal, and to cast out demons. And the rest of Mark’s story, this wonderfully written story, a story designed to entice and to entrap and to convict us, and I mean convict in the best sense of that word.
The rest of that story will be about who gets it, who doesn’t and who might. Who gets it in that first chapter of Mark?
This is fantastic! Who wouldn’t stick around for the rest of the story? Who gets it? God the Father in heaven gets it. John the Baptist gets it. The demons get it. And, Satan gets it. Who doesn’t get it? The authorities of the day don’t get it. The folks with the certificates don’t get it. And who might get it? Who might get it? The disciples might get it. Ray Arcario might get it. Mrs. Iannelli, if she keeps teaching that class, she might get it. We might get it.
Did you know that the Gospel of Mark has two endings? Did you know that? The first ending of Mark ends with Jesus’s resurrection. It ends with the disciples witnessing an empty tomb. The disciples, who I remind you, followed him around for three years. Who ate and drank and bathed with him. Who witnessed him heal the sick, cure the lame, cast out demons and proclaim a new day for the poor and the broken hearted. It is his disciples, who at the tomb are seized as Mark tells us with trembling and bewilderment, saying nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Well who wouldn’t be. For they were afraid. That’s the first ending of the Gospel of Mark. The beautiful story as he tells it, of course, leaves us, the reader, with that question: Who might get it? And then the story hit the editor’s table. And the editor decided maybe we should help them a little more. The second ending has Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene because clearly they understood if they really wanted to get the point across they needed some help from the women folk—because the disciples were seized with fear. And then Jesus also appears to two disciples on the road. And between Mary Magdalene and the disciples, they go back and tell the others and just like Galileo dropping the truth in his experiment, guess what, they didn’t believe them. It just couldn’t be! It isn’t so! We’re so afraid. We’re seized. We’re inactive. We’re unable to respond. So the editor continues.
So Jesus finally goes and appears to the eleven, all of them together. And in lines he whips them into shape. (snapping fingers) okay . . . This is like this. Our relationship is like this. You’ve been trying to figure this out. You might get it. That might getting part it is good news for us, believe me. But Jesus whips them into shape. He reminds them who he is and the Kingdom that is part of every atom in his body. He tells them it’s on them now. It’s on you now. So get up! Get out! Proclaim the gospel that you know because of me. Baptize in my name. And proclaim that gospel, by the way, to every creature. Mark’s words, Every creature!
Who gets it? Who doesn’t? Who might? Two weeks ago I asked the question of you as we began a new year, I asked the simple question. Is God finished with you yet? Or, does God have something yet more for you to know about him and to respond to him in your life, in this new year? And today I leave you with this question. In whom and in what do you vest your trust? Think about it. Amen.
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